Change ‘Skinner’ to ‘John Alleyne’ Park

THE EDITOR: John Alleyne — Motivator and Exemplar. The late John Alleyne would be remembered for many reasons — sportsman, journalist, referee, President of the TTFA and SFA, tennis player, table and lawn tennis and coach with a sense of commitment and dedication to whatever he did. Sports in this country, and south moreso, benefited from his unselfish service to whatever aspect he committed himself.

I remember him as a referee lecturer and my examiner at my first referee examination in 1967. Since then, I would be inspired, criticised, encouraged and motivated by John. I learnt so much from his assessment of my refereeing (not always in the best tone of voice), his objectivity which saw him critical today and complimentary tomorrow and his downright honesty and integrity. He was always able to defend what he did. John could never have been accused of being a racist. He was interested in performance and cared about nothing else. His commitment to youth and their promotion in sports saw him take a south youth team to a tournament in Guyana when the then Trinidad Football Association refused to send a team. His team won the tournament!

John was an exemplar. He was always known as the “one to take work first and give out after”. He would ensure that for every fund raising event he would take the first fifty tickets and then ask you how many you wanted. His portion would be sold for sure. It was John who introduced the Honduran style opening to Football — a queen heading each team. It was he who insisted on lights for night football which saw Skinner Park as the first floodlit facility in our country. He led the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association, Southern Football Association, Referees Association and San Fernando Tennis Club for many years.

Few of us knew that he was a national table tennis champion who represented Trinidad and Tobago at the Inter-regional level of his day. It was John‘s downright honesty that led him to say it as he saw it. He was an excellent journalist for many years up to his retirement. In writing this, I must also highly commend FIFA Vice-President, Mr Austin Jack Warner who attended the prize-giving function of the South Football Association in 2000 at Presentation College, San Fernando and pledged financial support to John. He later launched this at a function at Crowne Plaza and has been honouring same ever since, another fine example of appreciation of the work done by John Alleyne. Efforts made to have Skinner Park renamed in John’s honour, unfortunately, never materialised. Many young sportsmen owe their success to his openness and support. I certainly learnt more than refereeing from John Alleyne. May his soul rest in peace.

LENNOX SIRJUESINGH
FIFA Referee